Part 2 carried the journey from the Cape into the heart of East Africa: thirty days through seven countries, from the vineyards of Paarl to Arusha in northern Tanzania. The route ran north through the Cederberg and Namaqualand into Namibia, across the Kalahari to Botswana and on to Victoria Falls, then through Zimbabwe, a corner of Mozambique and the length of Malawi, before the long roads of western Tanzania delivered the finish.
We gathered in Paarl on 2 October and the next morning took the old passes of the Boland and the Cederberg north, with the first long sections of gravel towards Vredendal. A sandy coast road led us along the Atlantic towards Springbok. Across the border in Namibia the surface stayed unpaved for the best part of two days, via Bethanie and Helmeringhausen to Solitaire.
From Solitaire we left the road altogether. Guided by our regular dune partner Paul Lombard, we spent two days driving the Namib and two nights camping among the dunes, before the beach and the sand led us to Walvis Bay. After that, two nights at the Strand Hotel in Swakopmund felt like real luxury. A long stage east to Gobabis and a fast, paved run across the Kalahari then brought us over the border into Botswana and on to Maun.
Maun was our base for a day on the Okavango Delta and in Moremi. The Makgadikgadi salt pans followed, a stage straight across one of the largest salt flats in the world, from Letlhakane to Nata. Beyond the small border post at Pandamatenga we reached Victoria Falls, where a rest day gave time for the falls, the gorge and the Zambezi.
Through Hwange National Park and over 240 kilometres of gravel to Kwekwe we crossed Zimbabwe to Harare, then turned north to the Zambezi at Tete in Mozambique and into Malawi. We followed Lake Malawi from Senga Bay to Mzuzu, took the high road past Nyika to Chitipa, and crossed a very small border post into Tanzania for a rest day at Kipili on Lake Tanganyika. Katavi, Tabora and Singida came next, before the last stage into Arusha, where the cars stayed for the start of Part 3.